41-year-old James ranked first in ESPN for eight consecutive years. Although it has declined recently, it is still difficult to surpass in history.

When ESPN announced the list of the top 100 players in the new season, the news that 41-year-old James ranked 8th no longer seemed shocking! After all, at this age, it doesn’t matter how much you rank!

has dominated the top spot for eight consecutive years from 2011 to 2018, and has now missed the top five for four consecutive years. It seems to have declined in form, but it still ranks in the top ten of the ESPN list for 15 consecutive years. This stability itself has become an unprecedented legend in the NBA. Just imagine... Which old NBA man can do it?

This golden period corresponds to the peak years when he led the team to the finals for eight consecutive years. The turning point occurred in 2019. That year, James was ended by Leonard as the first player in ESPN, and Leonard led the Raptors to win the first championship in the history of the team. James ranked third in the season.

In the following years, although his ranking fluctuated, he always remained in the top ten in the league: he returned to first place in 2020, third in 2021, sixth in 2022, ninth in 2023 (and his lowest ranking in 15 years), seventh in 2024, and eighth in 2025.

Although he is over forty years, James still performed amazingly in the 2024-25 season. He played in 70 regular season games, averaging 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. At the end of the season, he ranked 13th in the league in scoring rankings, 22nd in the rebounding rankings, and 6th in the assist rankings. In addition to the above results, the 41-year-old man scored 20+ in 49 points in a single season, including 17 scored 30+, thus surpassing Jordan and taking the No. 1 in NBA history with 571 30+ scoring games.

In the same year, James was selected into the second team of the NBA All-Squad with 298 points, which is his 21 consecutive seasons selected into the All-Squad, unique in NBA history. In the middle of the 2024-25 season, he jumped to sixth place in the official MVP list, becoming the oldest player in history to rank among the top ten MVP list. More importantly, he also completed the only "MVP Grand Slam" in NBA history - including regular season MVP, finals MVP, All-Star MVP, mid-season Championship MVP and Olympic MVP.

James' performance in the 2024-25 season is enough to go down in history. He has become the first player in NBA history to still contribute 24+7+8 per game at the age of 40. League insiders generally believe that if he chooses to continue playing, he may still maintain the top ten in the league in the 2025-26 season.

James is not only competing with his opponents, but also racing against time. When asked when he would consider retiring, he hinted: "When I can no longer be fully engaged in the competition psychologically, that's the time to end." And for the moment, that moment seems to have not yet arrived.

His age is already a fan, and some fans even suspect that James may have been underage when he first entered the NBA, and his reputation may have been mixed, but at the age of 41, he is still active on the court and can even score 24+8+7 quasi-triple double data. His competitive skills and attitude are impressed!

So everyone thinks that James has dominated the list for 8 consecutive years, can he be surpassed?